A Few Things I'm Not Doing Ever Again

Oh Mylanta, I am so sorry I haven't been blogging for awhile.  I have been a Busy.  Little.  Bee. (As that mean dude in Gladiator says to the sister he has incestual feelings toward.)

I've been doing a lot of this:

And a lot of this:

(Is there anything in the world better than the smell of sweet alyssum??)

My friend, Megs, has started up an etsy where she sells cute things she sews - bibs, burp cloths, dresses, etc.  She heard about this artisan fair they have here in the summer, and she decided to try to sell her wares there.  She wondered if I wanted to try to sell my homemade cards at her booth with her, so I gathered them all together and then made 30 more thank-you cards.  They're all the same design, but with different colors:

I think they turned out cute.  So I hurried and got everything ready for Saturday, got a baby-sitter, and skipped on over to Snake River Landing.  I thought to myself, "I'll make at least a few hundey."  I was envisioning all of the beautiful flowers I was going to buy with my newfound riches.

Guess what I made, folks?  Drumroll please...

THREE.  DOLLARS.

That's right.  Three buckaroos.  Paid the baby-sitter 35 bucks for being with my kids for 5 1/2 hours, and I made three. 

So.  Um.  Not going to do that again...

And then the other thing that's taken up all my time - lawn care and gardening.  My amazing dad trimmed my crazy Elm trees in the backyard:

 And I hauled them away, bludgeoning myself in the process:

And the lawn.  Oh the lawn.  It's always been Ben's territory, and I never had full appreciation for what a pain in the butt it is to take care of.  How time-consuming!!!  My adorable elderly neighbor, Nephi, offered to let me use his edger.  I only did one side of one sidewalk, and it took me like an hour!!  Here's the finished result:

It's crazy how much higher my lawn is than my sidewalks.  I felt like my arms were going to fall off for several days after I edged.  Nephi wanted to know if I was going to finish with all the other edges.  I cheerfully and wholeheartedly said, "Nope."  I'll have a weird, only-one-edge-edged thing going on, and that's fine with me. 'Cause I'm not going to do that again...

I've also learned the ways of weed-whacking, specifically, not to weed-whack with capris on:

Not doing that again, either.

I planted some gorgeous geraniums:

 And I moved my bachelor buttons from the front to the back:

I mistakenly planted them in my front area, not realizing that they would take over THE ENTIRE WORLD.  They were choking everything else out:

 And they got too big and covered up my splendid peonies, which is sacrilege:

See?  You can't even see my peonies!  The nerve!  So I pulled 'em out and banished them to the backyard, where things go to die.  Because my soil is like clay back there.  Seriously, you can mold figurines out of that stuff.  I really need to amend the soil back there one of these days...

I planted a new hosta in the shade - isn't it gorgeous???:

He's lonely for now, but I plan on getting him a few brothers later on this summer, hopefully.

Planted some lobelia in the sun:

(Have I ever told you how much I like purple?)

And also planted some gorgeous petunias.  These are called Prism Sunshine:

 And these are called Sugar Daddies:

You should know that sometimes I pick flowers solely based on their names.  It's true.  Trusty Rustys.  Fizzy Lemonberries.  Flower names are so fun sometimes.  Have you seen the names of some of the roses out there?  I like wandering in the rose greenhouse at the local nursery just to look at the names.  Not to buy.  I don't have enough patience for roses.

I got these little beauties for the sun, too, called Vincas.  I'm a fan.  They've proven to be very hardy and just adorable.

A lady down the street complimented me on my flower garden today, and I was soooooooooo flattered.  I blushed and stammered and had pleasant feelings for hours afterward. :)  Flowers make me happy.  And compliments make me happy.

So that's what I've been doing.  And I promise to be a better blogger from now on...